Sunday, March 14, 2010

I must say I was in the other room nursing Mitchell and I could hear Jansen climbing around. He has learned to push a chair over to the freezer and pull everything out of the freezer and throw it on the floor. AND he can open the oven for a quicker step stool and stir ANY pan. This kid is just too smart!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Sunday, March 7, 2010

I wasn't going to post these family photos, but as ordered, here they are. A girl named Alicia took our photos and I think she did an awesome job! Click on her link if you want to see US on her blog! If you're in the Richmond area, I highly suggest you call her! (Thanks for the recommendation Merilee!)

The picture of Jansen is my personal favorite! No one can capture his smile... little stinker. But look at those lips!!!Love the creamy colors here, and Reesa looks happy despite the fact that she did NOT want to smile either...Mitchell, you can just tell how sweet and special he is.Modern, fun background... what I was looking for.

Me and Jake. We haven't had our pictures taken together since we were engaged! How did we do it? We buckled our kids in their car seats, turned on a movie, gave them suckers and popcorn and quickly snapped some shots of just us right before we left.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Well it's official, we're moving to Coarsegold, California! Jake didn't want me to say anything until the papers were signed just to make sure we didn't jinx anything. Jake got the papers last night, FINALLY, and we feel good about it. It's about the furthest move we could be making.

It's the craziest way things work out... So here's the 411 behind the whole story. Jake has always wanted to open his own dental practice, but straight out of dental school we felt a little experience and some time to decide where we wanted to live would be better. So we made a short move to Richmond Virginia to live by my sister while Jake worked as an associate for what we thought would be a year.

After Mitchell came along, there has been so many unknowns about his health and future we knew we needed to stay a little longer. THEN, Jake lost his job, that was NOT working out for our family situation. He was rarely around, and super stressed by the demands from work and home. When Jake lost his job, in a way, it was a big relief to all of us. With Jake's personality he would have NEVER quit, and the money was hard to pass up. So Jake found a job working 2 1/2 days a week and spent the rest of his time helping me with our special needs child (children).

SERIOUSLY 2 weeks later, Travis Kendall, our good friend from dental school, called Jake and asked him about possibly moving to Cali and joining his practice. Travis wasn't ready for a full-time partner, but still needed someone to help out. The opportunity seemed perfect for us, since Jake can't work full time just yet.

We weighed the options and thought and prayed about this move. Coarsegold is 5 1/2 hours from Jake's family and 12 hours from mine. We really wanted to be closer than that to our families. But we just kept going through the motions, and things have just worked out!

Jake will have a partner that we already know and love. A partner means Jake can actually take vacations in the future without putting his practice at risk, a BIG plus for our family. We'll have friends to help us ease into the transition of moving. (Who doesn't love Jennifer?) AND Fresno has a big Children's hospital that has all the of specialties we'll be needing for Mitchell (we hope).

I'll be flying to Utah with my 2 boys, (in just 3 short weeks!) while Reesa and Jake will drive across the country with my mother-in-law Lenora and our nephew Stuart. We're not naive enough to think that everything will go perfectly from here on out, but I think we're off to a great start!!!

AND... Mitchell turned 9 months! He is such a sweet baby. Still causing lots of trouble... We had to take Mitchy to Kid Med on Saturday (it's like an ER for children) because he would not stop throwing up. The gave him an IV for fluids and Zofran to stop the nausea. He's doing better, kind of. (side note, since Jake and I are both control freaks we BOTH wanted to go with Mitchell to the doctor. So Jake packed a DVD player for our kids, apples, oranges, granola bars, string cheese, diapers, and pajamas. We looked like we were moving in!!!)

He weighed 14.4 pounds with his diaper and clothes on...He has 3 1/2 teeth on top and 1 1/2 on bottom, can I say OUCH!!!Our physical therapist said she thinks at the rate he's progressing he should be able to sit around 15 months! Slow and steady, that's his motto! We sure love you Mitchell!